How I Met Your Mother
by sofia313
Summary: A short story about how Esther met Klaus' father and what happened after that.
1. Chapter 1

_Be still, my son_

_You're home_

_Oh when did you become so cold?_

_The blade will keep on descending_

_All you need is to feel my love_

_Search for beauty, find your shore_

_Try to save them all, bleed no more_

_You have such oceans within_

_In the end I will always love you_

_Nightwish – Mother & Father_

* * *

"Momma! Momma!"

I was sitting next to my spinning wheel, humming quietly, but I looked up when my little Finn ran inside, followed by Elijah who was holding something in his hands.

"Momma, 'Lija's scaring me," Finn complained.

I suppressed my smile when I saw what my older son was holding, it was a toad.

"Elijah," I scolded. "Did you scare your brother?"

"No, momma, I wanted him to play with my new friend," Elijah explained, looking very serious.

I smiled and kneeled in front of my sons, the toad in Elijah's hands was croaking.

"You know Finn is younger than you, sometimes your games are too fierce for him…"

"I am a big boy!" Finn announced. "I can play big boy's games!"

Elijah grinned and placed the toad on Finn's shoulder.

"Momma!" he shouted and started to run in a circle before the toad jumped on the floor.

"Elijah," I said firmly. "You will not tease your brother again."

"Yes, momma," he muttered and bowed his head. He was only 4 years old, but he was a smart boy, I was sure that he would someday be a great man. My little Finn was only 2 and he idolized his brother. They were definitely a handful. Speaking of which, where was the servant who was supposed to look after them? It didn't take long before the poor man ran in panting, he seemed exhausted.

"Forgive me, my lady, I…"

"They are fast, are they not?" I said smiling.

He nodded.

"Please forgive me; this will never happen again…"

"It certainly will not," Mikael's angry voice said from the door. It seemed that he had returned from his hunting trip, his hair was tangled and his clothes were dirty. The servant seemed suddenly very pale.

"My lord…"

"Papa!" Elijah and Finn cried out and ran to their father. Mikael's eyes softened when he looked at them and scooped them both up.

"There are my fierce warriors. Have you been good?"

"Yes, papa," they said simultaneously.

All the softness in Mikael's eyes vanished when he looked at the servant and tilted his head towards the door.

"Out. We shall talk about this later."

The poor man left as quickly as he could, he knew that he would be flogged. Mikael placed the boys on the floor and walked to me. His rough hand caressed my cheek before he kissed me.

"You look beautiful, my love."

I smiled.

"You were only gone for three days, my husband."

"That felt much longer," he replied and wrapped his arm around my waist. "I shall take a bath and then I want you in our chamber."

I nodded, I was grateful that he was planning to do things in that order.

"Mikael, about that servant…" I started, but his look silenced me.

"You will leave that to me, my love," he stated, making very clear that this wasn't open for discussion. He was a harsh and stubborn man, after almost 5 years of marriage I knew better than trying to argue with him about this. Although he had always been kind towards me, sometimes I hoped that my opinions would matter more.

"Papa," Elijah said. "I found a toad."

"That is great, son," Mikael said and tapped his head. "We shall talk more tomorrow."

"But papa…"

"Tomorrow," Mikael repeated harshly, making Elijah to take a step back.

Mikael had never harmed our sons, any more than he had harmed me, but he demanded unconditional discipline, even though the boys were so young.

"I shall see you soon, my love," he said and marched out.

I was just about to call for a servant when Elijah tugged at my dress.

"What are you and papa doing when you are alone?" he asked. "Why can I not come?"

I bit my bottom lip, trying not to laugh.

"Because me and your papa need to…talk, that is what adults do."

Elijah pouted his lips and crossed his little arms over his chest.

"I want to talk too."

"Me too," Finn added.

I laughed and hugged both of my sons.

"We shall talk tomorrow, I promise," I said and kissed their cheeks. "It is almost bedtime for you two and I want you to behave nicely, like young lords should."

"Yes, momma."

My darling boys, they were the light of my life. I knew that Mikael wanted me to be with child again soon, he was hoping for a daughter, a little girl who would be as beautiful as her mother, as he had put it. To be completely honest, that scared me quite a lot since both of my pregnancies had been very difficult. Unfortunately I didn't have much choice; it was my duty as his wife to give him children. I knew how grateful I should be, I was a commoner who had grew up in a small cottage and he was a wealthy landowner who had for some reason wanted me as his wife. I was 20 years old now, a mistress of a wealthy household and a mother of 2 beautiful boys; I should have everything anyone could ever want. Yet I felt that something was missing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favs and alerts :) This isn't going to be a very long story, but the idea has been haunting me for a while now and I wanted to write it. What do you think, continue or not?**

* * *

I smiled when I felt the wind on my face; the North Sea was stormy, as usual. The sound of the waves hitting the shore had always calmed me and I truly enjoyed my walks along the shoreline. I never went very far, I could see my home the whole time, but then again, it would have been difficult to miss it, it was a stone fortress on the cliff, built many generations ago by Mikael's ancestors, during some war no one remembered anymore. I remembered looking at it from down here when I was a little girl, wondering what would it be like to live there. My grandmother had often brought me here to pick up some herbs that only flourished near the sea.

She had been a good woman who had raised me by herself after the pestilence had killed my parents and my two brothers. For some reason I had survived, grandmamma had believed that my life would have some greater purpose, she had foreseen it. She had been a follower of the old religion, which was now considered as sorcery, practiced by wicked and unholy people who deserved to burn. I had never believed that grandmamma would be wicked, but still I had always had to be very careful, I had never told Mikael the whole truth about her. If I would have, I doubted that he would have ever wanted to marry me. According to grandmamma, I had inherited her "gift", but I didn't want to believe that and I would certainly never tell anyone about it, not to mention use it.

"It is very windy today, my lady," my maid Hilde said, she was walking right beside me, as always.

"Yes," I replied. "The ocean seems restless…"

I didn't finish my sentence when something suddenly fell in front of us, it was a dead bird. Hilde gasped.

"A dead crow… This is a bad omen, my lady."

"Don't be silly," I replied, trying to keep my tone light. "Just foolish superstition…"

I tried to convince that to myself as much as to her, I suddenly had a very bad feeling. This was ridiculous, I sounded just like grandmamma. But still, better safe than sorry.

"Perhaps we should turn back…" I started when I noticed three riders approaching us. Probably just some travelers… No, they were going to hurt us, somehow I knew it.

"Hilde," I said tensely. "I need you to listen to me very carefully."

She looked surprised.

"Of course, my lady."

"We must turn around and run towards the hill. Do not stop no matter what happens."

Hilde's eyes widened.

"My lady…"

"Run!" I shouted and grabbed her hand.

Thankfully she didn't argue, we both ran as fast as we could.

"Get her!" I heard one of the riders shouting. "The one with blonde hair is his wife, kill the other one!"

I could feel that Hilde was about to panic, but we didn't have time for that right now, not if we wanted to stay alive.

"Run, run!" I screamed and squished her hand. "Help! Someone help!"

The riders were reaching us; they had picked up their swords. We wouldn't get away, not like this. I shoved Hilde on the ground and jumped on her, wanting to protect her from these men. The riders surrounded us, I heard their horses nickering.

"Put your swords away," one of them ordered and dismounted. "We do not want to damage the merchandise, not yet anyway."

Slowly I looked up and met the gaze of a harsh looking bearded man who had a long greasy hair. He grinned, revealing his almost toothless gums.

"Hello there."

I tried desperately to formulate a plan, but I didn't have time when he stepped in front of me and yanked me to my feet. Instinctively I kicked him and struggled as hard as I could, but that only made him laugh.

"What a little wildcat. Kill the other one."

"No!" I shouted and struggled even harder when the two other men approached Hilde who was still lying on the ground sobbing. "Leave her alone!"

"No, I do not thi…"

He never finished his sentence when one is his companions gasped, blood suddenly pouring from his mouth. The blade that had penetrated his chest from behind was pulled away; the man fell on his stomach next to Hilde who started to scream. I stared at the owner of the bloody blade; he was a young man, maybe in his mid twenties. He was medium height and muscular, he had a short sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His face was completely callous and it remained so when he cut the throat of the second man before he could even lift his sword.

The third man who had yanked me to my feet shouted furiously and pushed me roughly on the ground before attacking my savior. I barely managed to look up when the third man's body fell on the ground. From the corner of my eye I saw that Hilde had stood up, she ran away shouting hysterically. I stared at my savior who was calmly wiping the blood from the blade of his sword. Slowly I managed to get to my shaky feet; he didn't seem to pay any attention to me.

"Thank you, sir," I managed to say.

"For what?" he asked callously, keeping his eyes on his sword.

I was a little confused; surely he knew why I was thanking him.

"For saving me and Hilde."

He glanced at his sword one more time before putting it into sheath, then he finally looked at me. His lips curved into a sinister smirk that sent involuntary shivers up my spine.

"Oh, I am afraid my lady is too presumptuous," he purred.

Now I was really confused, what was he talking about?

"You see, I did not kill them because I would have wanted to save you, I killed them because they thought they could take my prey. Such arrogance…"

I swallowed and started slowly to back away, my eyes were searching for some kind of weapon. There were two swords lying on the ground next to their dead owners, I tried to grab one of them, but my "savior" was faster, he was in front of me in a fraction of a second. That was impossible, how could he move so fast… I screamed when he grabbed my hips and threw me over his shoulder.

"Let me go!"

He ignored my angry demands and whistled while carrying me next to one of the horses.

"A nice horse too… Not a bad catch."

"I am warning you, my husband is a very powerful man…" I started, trying to sound confident.

He placed me on the horse and mounted himself behind me.

"Yes," he said dryly. "I am aware of who your husband is."


End file.
